PNB ceases to be major shareholder in Mah Sing

KUALA LUMPUR: Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) has ceased to be a substantial shareholder in property developer Mah Sing Group Bhd, after it disposed of 1.45 million shares in the company on Jan 6, thereby reducing its interest to less than 5%.

PNB emerged as a substantial shareholder in Mah Sing in January 2009, with a 5.01% stake. Its holdings reached a high of 11.46% in August 2009, but since then, PNB has been gradually paring down its stake in the developer.

AmanahRaya Trustees Bhd-Skim Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB), a PNB-managed unit trust, had also ceased to be a substantial shareholder in Mah Sing in December last year.

ASB first emerged as a substantial shareholder in Mah Sing in August 2008 with a 5.3% stake. Its holdings reached 14.19% in January 2009.

Mah Sing closed one sen lower at RM2.08 on Wednesday, Jan 12, with 5.4 million shares traded.

While the stock has gained 13% year-to-date and even hit an all time high of RM2.18, analysts are still expecting further upside as they peg the stock's fair value at RM2.49, according to consensus polled by Bloomberg.